Salmon Curry

This is one of my three all time favourite recipes for salmon. Originally from Madhur Jaffrey’s Curry Bible. I just add more water to make more sauce, so there is room for vegetables too. I tend to do that a lot. Concentrating on one dish which will carry the vegetables. No need to do something fancy with the vegetables as well, because many times one will overpower the other anyway. I think this salmon goes perfectly with zucchini/courgette. And if I can find some okra, I will add a few of them too, just for fun. Serve with indonesian sweet and sticky nasi kuning. A truely comforting dish. Warm, probably from the mustard seeds. A spice that we’re not accustomed to in the West. Maybe that’s what makes it so special to me.

RECIPE

Cut 400 gram salmon into 2x2x4 cm pieces and put in a plastic bag to marinade (for 1 to 6 hours) with

½ t cayennepepper
½ t kurkuma
½ t salt

Mix together in a bowl to set aside:

1½ T ground coriander seeds
2½ t brown mustard seeds, then grinded in a coffeegrinder
2 t ground cumin seeds
2 t hot currypowder
1½ t salt
1 t cayennepepper
½ t kurkuma
200 gram tomato, chopped finely
200 ml water

Measure and set aside (seperately) :

2½ t brown mustardseeds
1 t fennel seeds

You could cook the 500 grams of zucchini in the sauce, but I prefer to either grill the slices in a grill-pan. Or when I don’t have the time to do that, I will precook them a few minutes in the microwave.

Cooking
Heat 1 T olive oil in a wok (or pan) on medium heat.
Add the mustard seeds.
When they start to pop after about 15 seconds, add the fennel seeds.
Stir only once and then add the tomato/water/spice-mixture.
Bring to the boil and let it simmer for 10 minutes or more.
When you’ll have guests, you can easily prepare this earlier and reheat it when you’re ready to eat.

When you’re ready, add the zucchini/courgette, precooked or not. Either way, you don’t add the salmon until your zucchini/courgette is warm and pretty much done to your liking. The last thing to add is the salmon. But before you do that, add a little bit of cornflour/water-mixture to thicken the sauce to your liking.

So when the sauce and the vegetables are to your liking, add the salmon. Just heat it for about 2 minutes, stir carefully and make sure not to overcook it. It’s best when slightly undercooked.

Serve with nasi kuning or just white rice.

Update:  I combined it with a glass of Pernod/Ricard/Pastis with water and ice and I thought it matched brilliantly. I would be very curious to find out what other people would make of this combination. ;-)